Easter is a nice pagan fertility / spring celebration and safe for atheists and their kids to partake in. Just bring on the chocolate.

http://www.otmatheist.com hoverFrog

As a parent my kids are so obsessed by the prospect of chocolate bunnies that they haven’t even wondered where the festival comes from. If\when they ask I’ll tell them about the Germanic goddess ?ostre, Goddess of the Dawn and how the evil Christians stole the festival for their zombie god.

http://atheistweb.org Chris

What could be more worthy of celebration than the start of spring – the blossoming of nature at the end of the long winter is well worth celebrating.

Just had a traditional Polish Easter breakfast, with decorated eggs (unblessed) and bouka. Is this a shameless appropriation of a Christian festival? Well, as we all know, Eostre pre-dates Christianity by a few millenia.

http://www.travisjmorgan.com Travis Morgan

My kids search for their Easter baskets and eggs every Easter morning. We also go to Ihop for breakfast every Easter. It is just for fun.

Tracy

Not doing a thing, other than the usual chores I do on Sunday. Laundry, grocery shopping and the like. We’ll have to call the super-religious mother-in-law, but I’ll make DH do that

cassiek

Some years we have a big dinner with the entire family if everyone’s available. Really just an excuse to see eachother and eat really good food. Other years because of work, vacations, etc., we have done nothing. Today though, I have been cooking since last night and about a dozen of us are meeting at my aunt’s home.

When my children were small my parents would hide plastic eggs full of chocolate around their yard (or house, depending on the weather) for the kids to find. They (the kids and my parents) enjoyed that.

http://lyvvielimelight.blogspot.com Lyvvie

Our kids get chocolate and presents, and a couple books from their grandparents. I make French toast and sausages and then we watch the TV movies or go out for a walk if it’s nice. It’s just a nice family day with chocolate for breakfast.

tamarind

Already did something special! At 4 am this morning, my man and I decorated a local Joseph Smith statue with Easter decor. (I live in Mormonville, UT.) It looks great!

EndUnknown

It is an excuse to get candy and one birthday present early(my bday is on the 18th of april, my brothers is on the 14th, so we’ve always had a present in there. this year was Simpsons season 6)

http://religiouscomics.net Jeff

Kids will get baskets of candy-filled eggs. Then going over to brother’s house for some deviled eggs.

We will miss out on the drinking of blood and eating of god flesh to appease the all loving sky-hook so we won’t be sent to everlasting torment.

We will just live the day peacefully and fully wanting nothing in return and then be done with it (just like we live our lives).

BowserTheCat

I greeted my daughter with “Happy Zombie Jesus Day”! Other than that I can’t even do the chocolate since I’m having a medical procedure tomorrow and can only have clear liquids today, groan. The kid did make up eggs though. Personally I find the whole celebration of Zombie Jesus with Eggs and Bunnies more than a bit weird.

chancelikely

Easter is the other day of the year where I let myself be shanghaied by my mother into going to a church service. Thankfully my father and his wife are passing through town and he invited me to breakfast this morning. Since I see him much less than I see my mother (and since the bigger crime in her eyes is actually missing the lamb meal she makes this afternoon), I get out of church.

But my sister’s still young enough to want to do the Easter Bunny candy hunt, so we’re going to do that before I leave for the local Denny’s.

So happy Easter, to religious and nonreligious alike. I’ve always liked Easter, because in English and German they didn’t even bother to paper over the pagan origins of the holiday with another name like Yule/Christmas.

http://wings1295.blogspot.com/ Wings (Caffeinated Joe)

With our kids, it has always been a lesser celebration than Christmas, but the kids still look forward to it.

We hide plastic eggs the night before and then put their favorite candies and one or two little items in a basket at the table.

This year, my son got a Rondo bobblehead and a pack of basketball cards, and my daughter got a Wolverine action figure (she has a new crush on Hugh Jackman) and a pack of Webkinz cards.

They found all the eggs (I hope) with some M&Ms in each one. And that’s about it. Oh, and I made corn muffins. Simple morning, but fun.

Tony

The way I see it there are two sides to a lot of these superficially religious holidays. There’s the zombie Jesus rising from his grave festival and there’s the secular egg-munching bunny festival. Just like at Christmas there’s the virgin birth, three kings business and there’s the fat guy in red and the trees and all of that. I don’t see why I should let a religion get in the way of a good family celebration.

Donna

My husband is off this morning to play in a brass quartet at a local church service.

In a little bit I’m going to put on a recording of the Bach B Minor mass and put a roast in the oven for a nice traditional dinner.

When our daughter was younger she always had an Easter basket and we hid eggs all over the house.

Take away the morbid death story/symbolic cannabilism/zombie worship and there are elements of some nice traditions there. Why not enjoy them?

Perm

My wife and I celebrate Easter by having anal sex. Yes, I’m serious. No, we haven’t hit every year (it’s not practical some days/times of course.)

What better way to celebrate our virility, sexual fortitude, sense of adventure, AND our hatred of xtianity all in the same day?! 😉

http://www.minervashowl.com David Payne

Is today Easter? Darn, the kids must not crave chocolate like they used to. They didn’t even remind me.

http://missnetaddict.blogspot.com Miss Addict

I celebrate “Zombie Jesus Day” or “Chocolate Egg Day”

In my house we give eggs mainly because its a good chance to get some free chocolate and then continue with our day as normal. We do the same thing on Christmas.

Allison

We hide Easter baskets for the kids then watch them find the things. My oldest thanked us nicely for the contents.

We almost always do a lot of gardening that day as it’s generally around the last frost date. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate spring than working with baby plants!

NJWilk

My kids all being of the canine variety, we will be conducting our Eighth Annual Easter Hot Dog Hunt. The dogs ask no questions about the origins of this miraculous occurrence, they just enjoy it for what it is. Although they do tend to carefully search the back yard for several days afterward.

http://www.jewelisms.com Jewel

If we had kids, we would probably do easter egg hunts and chocolate bunny’s and such. But, we don’t, so we sleep in.

http://kjcw.blogspot.com Kelly

My kids love the candy, and they’re too young for the religious discussion. We’ll talk about Zombie Jesus when they’re older. For now, it’s all about the Marshmallow Peeps.

http://http://rcd.typepad.com/ Robin Capper

I went for a drive to see some lovely scenery and beautifully evolved flying creatures (Gannets)

I like Christmas but I ignore Easter. If I had kids, I would color eggs and do the Easter basket thing. I love the colors of all the Easter candy packaging.

phoenixphire24

When my brother and I were little, we always had egg hunts and baskets and usually went to brunch somewhere. If there was family around, we’d also have a family dinner late in the day. There were usually some events in the neighborhood (there were lots of kids our age) as well. Those things, like most of Christmas, have nothing to do with the Christian holiday, so why not enjoy the festivities and welcome Spring! When my husband and I have kids, I’m sure we’ll do the same.

http://blaghag.blogspot.com Jennifurret

My family’s not really religious, so Easter is just another excuse to get together and eat food. Though we now have two toddlers after a long drought (I was the youngest befor they were born, and I’m 21), so let the egg hunts resume!

My hasband, son, and I decorated eggs. It’s a beautiful and creative tradition. I drew the FSM on some and my 10 year old son drew some Yin-Yang ones. We’re gonna eat lunch together. The traditional ham, potato salad, and aspargus because that’s super tasty! And then we are going to watch Religulous.

Happy Easter fellow atheists!

http://dangerousintersection.org Dan Klarmann

Ham on Matzoh goes well with deviled eggs and lox while the kiddies burrow through the daffodils for colorful eggs.

Ritual is good, even for those of us with no invisible friends.

zoo

I’ve spent the last. . . 4 I believe, including later today, at the zoo volunteering (just like every Sunday for the past 3ish years). It’ll be a bit wierd with most of the usual Sunday volunteers off doing their family things or whatever, but it will be anything but quiet. Especially after the area churches let out. I tend to not participate in the zoo’s easter events directly, but that’s because I don’t want to spend 6 hours asking kids what cows say (or whatever questions they come up with that year) and being ignored because the kids only care about what you have to give them.

Jason

Going to have lunch with the parents since my dad’s birthday was on the 10th then coming back home and watching MotoGP this afternoon.

I actually forgot until a friend reminded me, then I phoned home to wish my parents a Happy Easter.

Although some chocolates would have been good, all the shops are closed. /lament/ I had to settle for real rabbits leaving real brown “eggs” around my house.

Phil

going to church! (my parents church anyways) I came home to visit them for the week, so we’ll be going there in a few minutes, then eating the feast. go jesus!

http://maybetheblog.blogspot.com/ Sam

I always get/give chocolate or little easter eggs. I remember when I was younger my family would go to virginia to visit our cousins (another secular family) and we’d have lots of fun finding eggs with clues and things.

A lot of my family is still religious though, so on Easter we head over to another family member’s house for a sort of family gathering, also a joint big birthday party for spring birthdays.

http://cupcakesandmace.com Ms Constantine

This morning I woke up at the mum in laws, read some of my current book (The Atheist Manifesto), did the chocolate bunny hunt mum in law set up for us even though we’re 23 & 24 (it was awesome!), ate a hot cross bun for breakfast, packed, and drove home for 4 hours in a stinking hot car.

I call today Chocolate Day, in the same way I call December 25 Present Day. Why would I give up the chance to celebrate chocolate and presents?

mike

My parents are visiting, and I’m taking them to a church here in town. The church part will probably be awkward for me, but it’s nice to have them visit anyway.

It’s also a good chance to put on Handel’s Messiah, crank it up, and sing along.

Oh yes, and a big dinner with lots and lots of protein!

http://dadtheist.blogspot.com/ Stephen

We did a basket clue hunt–no one had to pray to find their basket.

We are now playing video games–no signs of (psudo)Catholic mom making it to church

Probably going to Watchmen with my nominally Christian Dad–we won’t be boycotting the movie since Dr. Manhattan is more powerful than Yahweh

Eating ham and pork loin for dinner at my mothers–this must be the Christian way of saying “HA Jews! What are you eating today that tastes as good as ham?”

Easter Egg Hunt–again I don’t think there will be a need to pray first to make sure we find all them eggs.

Andrew

Going to my parents church. Then eating till my face falls off

http://yangandcampion.googlepages.com Margaret Y.

Last May, I bought an egg coloring kit on a last-chance clearance sale for 29 cents. It’s a Pirates of the Caribbean theme, complete with stickers and a poster. Who could resist?

Holiday? Is there a holiday? I don’t know and neither do my kids, but we are having a pirate breakfast. Arrr, matey!

http://sunnyskeptic.wordpress.com Crystal D.

I made easter baskets and treat bags for friends, employees and co-workers, because I LOVE making treat bags for the holidays.

Today I am going to the laundromat to wash my cat’s beds and their window perch cover because I don’t want to wash them in my own washing machine and get cat hair all over it. I figure the laundromat probably won’t be busy today.

another Mike

In 1943 my 3 yr old sis, 8 yr old bro, & 5 yr old Mikie got up early & looked out the window & spotted Mom hiding eggs in the yard. When she spotted us she started hopping. I swear it. She denied it each of the many times one of us would bring it up over the next 60 years. And — the day she told Keith & I that there was not really a Santa Claus, he said “then I’m not believing in Jesus anymore, either”. He converted to Catholicism at around age 60. We never could agree on anything.

http://theipu.com Ron Gold

I do a family event, but few of my relatives are practicing Christians. The only reason I’ll even know it’s Easter is that there will be various sorts of candy around (I pray there won’t be Peeps, those are horrible).

Chipset

I see no benefit to perpetuating the Easter Myth of Jesus by re-purposing the bloody nonsense and wrapping it in Chocolate to fatten gullible children.

Let the nonsensical fairytale fade into the mists of obscurity where it rightly belongs. It serves no useful purpose in the modern era, as the modern man no longer tolerates the Woo Woo parlor tricks of these silly gods.

You who pass on these remembrance rituals are doing your children an unnecessary disservice, and they would be the better without it.

http://skepticsplay.blogspot.com miller

Barbecue!

http://millennialthoughts.wordpress.com/ Christine

Going to the boyfriend’s family’s house for free food, although since none of his clan really cooks, it’ll probably be take out. Sigh. Next year I’m figuring out a way to make a proper Easter dinner: ham.

Suzanne

This holiday was celebrated before Christians incorporated it. So, let’s all take Christ out of Easter and have fun with our kids. We had a neighborhood egg hunt this morning. Easter is great : fertility, spring, astronomy…its got it all!

Tegan

I don’t even celebrate Christmas – at least, if left completely to my own devices. My maternal grandmother still does the whole Easter or Christmas thing if we visit during those times, but other than that they’re just normal days.

Even if a holiday holds no religious celebration for you, the mere act of celebrating it gives it power in a way and makes it even more mainstream – in my mind – no judgments on people who celebrate and don’t believe – I can especially understand if there are meaningful family traditions

http://pinkprozac.typepad.com/theaword/ Kristi

I woke up and my husband said “happy easter babe”! lol

We are taking my husband’s grandfather out. So i get to have a nice dinner tonight! I’m thinking lobster Kristi

KMW

Easter is about the easter bunny and a celebration of Spring for us. My 3 and 6 yr olds don’t know anything about the Christian holiday aspects yet. We do a basket of candy and little toys and have an easter egg hunt in our yard. Depending on the weather, we may do some gardening together. Sometimes we have relatives over for a casual dinner.

http://lfab-uvm.blogspot.com chanson

Easter eggs, bunnies, and Chocolate! I think it’s cool that these traditions have survived and evolved, being passed from one religious or symbolic meaning to another.

My husband and I woke up, retrieved our baskets, sorted through and nibbled a bit while chatting in bed. It’s been a lovely morning. We’re going over to my parents’ house later for a picnic – they’re in church now, though!

http://ichthyologistbright.blogspot.com ChimaeraLaurie

Flying Spaghetti Monster Party! I’ve got my pirate costume all made, and I think I can get my husband to wear an eye patch.

Chipset

Easter may indeed have been commandeered from other mythology by the thieving death cult of Christians in the early days, but for all intents and purposes it has but one connotation these days, which is the Christian Remembrance Ritual.

You who do those things you do at Easter are, consciously or otherwise fostering the filthy myth of Christianity in some measure. If you feel the necessity to cram your children full of chocolate, then why cannot you do it the weekend before or the week after!

Wendy

Feh… I’m working today. It’s just another day for me.

http://www.myspace.com/kelseyevans101788 Kelsey

We can’t give up every opportunity for chocolate! And bring joy to the kids faces.

http://www.limetwists.com Cole

Happy Zombie Jesus Day! My husband and I are the only ones that don’t go to church this morning, so it’s up to me to run all around the neighborhood putting everybody’s hams in the oven so they’re done when everyone gets home. Ha!

As far as my kids go, they’ve never really questioned why and I tend to play it up as a “spring” event rather than a religious one. My oldest knows her grandparents are gone to church, but they do that *every* Sunday, so she doesn’t see it as anything special.

The easter bunny here is a bit toned down version of Santa Claus. The girls woke up this morning with baskets of eggs, candy, and lots of spring-y/outdoors-y toys on their nightstands. Santa’s got it easy compared to the Easter Bunny, though. Santa dumps it all in the living room, the bunny actually has to sneak past two sleeping kids. lol

http://mollishka.blogspot.com mollishka

I for one was perfectly content ignoring the day (and not realizing it was today) until I went to Target to pick up some things and the lazyjerkwads were closed. Grrrrrrr.

Bletchley Park

I’m really ticked off today. There is absolutely no good reason why some businesses, schools, and the NYSE/NASDAQ/AMEX were closed on Friday. April 10th was a business day–isn’t the economy not doing too well? Should a business take foolish days off when it’s not doing well?

I went to my gym this morning; and in spite of no notices on the website or telephone advising the fact, it was closed. What the hell is going on? People do not come back to life! The churches are full today here in Iowa, and there’s as much factual basis for celebrating easter as there is to commemorate Superman’s first day of high school in Smallville.

I’m so tired of this stupid superstition!

Vicoria

Actually, it is the Christian story of Easter that pushed me to the wall once my child was born. I’ve always referred to the holiday as the creepy easter story. If you think about it, when Mel Gibson made his film it was rated R and was essentially a snuff film. ‘Nuff said. Each year my son, now 8, asks if he’s old enough to hear the creepy easter story.

In retrospect, I can’t believe they tell this story to young children. (1) It’s barbaric to the extreme, and (2) If you set up a religion at a young age to REQUIRE the suspension of reality for the belief construct, what are you doing to prepare that mind for rational thought?

Basically what you are setting up are the two tracks for all “thought” (1) religion or religious beliefs aren’t required to make sense at all versus the rest of the knowledge you will be acquiring.

To take it one step further, requiring people to suspend belief for g-d seems to be the gateway to creationism and fundamentalism.

So meh… we do bunnies and chocolate in this household. MUCH more pleasant!

bigjohn756

Easter? Today is Easter?

http://cycleninja.blogspot.com Paul Lundgren

I have a friend here in Iowa who claims this is his annual ritual of Cadbury trying to kill him.

http://geoffarnold.com Geoff Arnold

Our Easter tradition: sitting down together to watch The Life of Brian. “Always look on the bright side of life…”

http://redheadedskeptic.com Laura

The way I see it is that my daughter gets the fun out of Easter without the drudgery of having to sit through a sermon, too. We participate in the fun, secular aspects of holidays. It works for us because I personally believe it is a good idea to not restrict holidays/fun for kids who have to go to school and listen to how everyone else had lots of fun on this special day. Sitting out because of religion breeds resentment. My parents wouldn’t let us celebrate Halloween because it was a celebration of Satan in disguise. I always thought it was ridiculous and felt left out when my schoolmates happily discussed costumes, parties, and trick-or-treating. The first thing I did when I left the house was fall in love with Halloween. I go a little overboard for my daughter now. My point is that kids will run straight to that which they feel they missed out on when they are adults. I think the best way to raise a religious kid is to not allow them to participate in any activities that might even smack of religion.

cathy

I celebrate the day after. Yum, 40% cheaper chocolate.

Kage no Kami

I was raised a Jehovah’s Witness and am now a atheist philosophical Buddhist. As such the holiday times have always just sort of passed me by. Ive no longer any moral objection to them, but, its a little like being a vegetarian, after enough time you just dont miss it anymore.

My daughter has never celebrated a holiday and says she doesnt wish we would.

ddwester

Don’t you think we have been tolerating them long enough? What kind of statement would it be to tell our families that we would be glad to gather with them on any other day of the year but a religious one. Isn’t is as much of our responsibility to to educate them as they feel they should educate us? Personally I am tired of being told to have a Happy/Merry (insert religious day) or that my day should be blessed. I have had enough and make it a part of my day to tell people about my belief system (or lack thereof)!

matt

I went for a little reflective bike ride, then to starbucks for a Vivanno milkshake thing and an egg sandwich. Later today I’m going to lie to my mom about going to church, or perhaps just tell her I too have been reborn and resurrected, though not in the way that she would like/think – I’m no longer catholic.

http://homesteadnotes.blogspot.com Teresa

We’re eating rabbit today, coincidentally. A friend remarked that I must be really serious about Easter. I told her that, yeah, we were pretty mad at the Easter Bunny for not bringing enough loot.

But, really, we’re not doing anything for Easter. The kids used to hide their own plastic eggs (which my MIL had bought for them), but they’ve outgrown that (ds#1 prefers to read Skeptic magazine in lieu of participating in Easter…good kid).

http://www.slightlysouthofsane.com Tony Miller

I wished my christian wife a “Happy Zombie Day” and she wished me a “Happy Easter.” Then we had lunch and we’re watching the E network.

P

I’m working at Starbucks down here in gOd’s land of Oklahoma, making it a point to be ooey gooey nice to people, all the while displaying my proud red A button on my apron!

Reginald Selkirk

I celebrate Easter Monday. The candy is much much cheaper then.

http://lepouseturningtide.blogspot.com/ Julie Ward

I love the idea of celebrating fertility and spring; I love this time of year with rain and flowers and seedlings and migratory birds returning. It demonstrates the beauty of natural selection and evolution, and the commercial aspects of dying eggs and chocolate bunnies make it even more fun.

It’s the pathetic high school students re-enacting the zombie aspect of the christianized version of the pagan celebration in front of their churches that makes me want to vomit. Or is that too many peanut butter eggs?

http://iswhatido.org Richard Blumberg

This atheist just made a futile trip to MicroCenter because he forgot – again! – that stores, even big ones that are always open, close on Easter. Next year in Jerusalem. Not.

Sandra

My son and I celebrated the first day of spring a few weeks ago with the chocolate bunnies and peeps. Since the yummies are still in stores then we continue to have little nibbles of these goodies here and there. Eggs are out for us because my son refuses to eat them.

I used to have a scavenger hunt for my son to find his basket of goodies when we were in California with the religious family, but now we celebrate the pagan sabbats since they celebrate seasons, and changes through the year.

Tony Morrison

I am watching m fav zombie movies today

Ryan

With all the discounts on hams and such, my family uses it as an excuse for a “nice” dinner.

Anne

We dyed eggs of course (this is one of the most fun parts of the holiday, IMO) and have Easter baskets for any kids who are of appropriate age (I think this is up to 25 but YMMV). Then we have a nice seasonal dinner. The only thing that bugs me about the holiday is the Easter Bunny charade. I’ve tried to offer hints that the Easter Bunny is me, but the school/peer influence is strong and he is only 6. He’ll figure it out soon, I’m sure.

We also celebrated the Vernal Equinox (much more relevant really) by taking cupcakes to school and talking astronomy.

Richard Wade

We’re mainly celebrating my mom’s 89th birthday that was a couple of days ago. My brother, the only religious one left in the family, will say grace before we eat the honey baked turkey, and we’ll read really corny Easter bunny jokes. My daughter is grown (and an atheist) so we can skip the egg hiding ritual. It’s about family, food and happiness that we’re all still alive.

stephanie

Any excuse to celebrate, I say. So years ago, I started having ‘orphan holidays’ where all our friends gather because our families are so far away. Around our house, it’s Athieaster, or Hoppy Esters if there’s beer. I’ve always wanted to serve a big pot of spaghetti and meatballs for our beloved FSM, but in the end I’m just too traditional and love cooking some big centerpiece item. 😉

We’re planning on honoring that whole resurrection theme by running Dead Alive and Sean of the Dead after dinner.

Epistaxis

I listen to the soundtrack from Parsifal, though that might make more sense on Good Friday.

http://noadi.blogspot.com Noadi

Today is actually my mom’s birthday so we’re celebrating that more than Easter. When I was a kid we did the whole candy hunt and then a walk to look for signs of Spring. I have daffodil and tulip shoots coming up and most of the snow is gone.

All the originally pagan Spring and fertility related stuff is really a wonderful tradition, especially living in an area with harsh winters. I do without all the Christian stuff though.

AnonyMouse

The same thing we do every Easter: chocolate in the morning, then over to the neighbors’ for a nice, secular barbecue and egg hunt. Religion has always been more of a footnote in our Easter celebration anyway.

http://gretachristina.typepad.com/ Greta Christina

If we had kids, we’d probably do something in the eggs/ rabbits/ candy family. As it is, we tend to celebrate the coming of spring on May Day. What with my wife being a Morris dancer and all. Today, it’s just Sunday.

http://www.ursuspacificus.net Paul Tourvill

I don’t celebrate Easter. It is a day, like any other, except some stores are closed. Of course, the next day, all this oddly-colored candy is really cheap! 😀

Zombie Girl

Happy Zombie Jesus day everyone!!

To celebrate the almighty Zombie Jesus, I will walk around like a zombie and cannibalize my fellow humans. Nom nom nom.

In all seriousness, I munch on peeps and chocolate bunnies for “Easter” and eat a large meal….of human flesh.

Erp

I actually decided to try the sunrise service (Episcopal/Lutheran) this year. A bit of a hike (30 minute walk uphill) and shared with the cows. The church followed it with breakfast (after the walk down hill) including crepes with strawberries, cream, and melted chocolate. Didn’t agree with the theology but it was a nice sunrise.

http://omega-geek.blogspot.com Spook

For a while, I made it a personal tradition of sorts to watch a particularly cheesy schlock horror movie in the theater. I haven’t had this option for a few years (no movie theaters in walking distance) so instead I’ve resorted to watching Night of the Living Dead… which is basically about Jesus, who returned from the dead TO EAT OUR BRAINS.

Ray

Spent the afternoon (12-6) in a jazz club. I feel resurrected.

Alice

I’m 30, and the only reason I look froward to easter is because of the 10 pounds of chocolate I get in my basket. My father is insistent that I get one every single year.

«bønez_brigade»

I celebrated Easter early (Fri/Sat) by attending the American Atheists convention in Atlanta. And I’ll celebrate something more important than mythology today by drinking some fine English alcohol (Newcastle™) in honor of Yuri Gagarin.

http://locksmyth.alchemyx.com locksmyth

Despite the fact that the Christians have claimed Easter. Absolutely nothing in the day beyond the story of crucifixion is christian. The holiday still has the name of one of the pagan goddesses it did worship.

I see no reason not to celebrate this weekend, the coming of spring is a wonderful thing. (When I lived down-under I celebrated Easter because it meant the coming of moderately cool and comfortable winter.)

K

Colored boiled eggs yesterday because my boy is an eating machine and I could use the protein as well. He’s 13 but still likes the tradition. I documented today’s festivities. It’s known as the evil egg hunt, because I can make it very very difficult to find them when I put my mind to it. And he sucks at finding things in plain view so this is always good for a laugh.http://cinnamonbite.livejournal.com/440904.html Also planted some late tomato seeds. It’s ok, I’m not going to wither and die if they don’t produce because it’s too late to be planting. I haven’t committed to living out of my backyard yet. I keep thinking that this is the year, but no. This year is not the year.

Christie

Conversation I had with my 6-yr-old yesterday ended with: “Mama, I know we don’t believe he came back from the dead, but I *really* like egg hunts.”

So we had one. It was fun. 😀

Hope everyone had a good Sunday!

http://annainca.blogspot.com Anna

We don’t do much anymore, but that’s only because there aren’t any little kids in the family right now.

When I was growing up, Easter was a pretty big holiday. We always had an egg hunt, and my brother and I would both get an Easter basket filled with chocolate and candy and a big stuffed bunny. I also always had a new Easter dress and Easter hat, and we’d go out to brunch, or else my parents would cook (usually a ham) and invite family over.

Our Easter was always thoroughly secular. I was quite old (maybe 11?) before I realized that other people celebrated it in a religious way. I plan to give my children the same Easter that I enjoyed growing up. Just fun, fantasy, and family time — and candy!

Andrew

So I went to church w the rents.. In the sermon the preacher mentoined the atheist bus ads and noted how 100 yrs ago the ateists were very gloomy buy today they seem happy and hopeful (go us!) . He did say though that he had many problems with the message not surprisingly. The only one he mentioned was “if there’s no god then what do we build our lives upon?”.

Didn’t take me long to come up w a response – family, friends, and personal relationships, community service.

Any others that you all would add?

Mike

I just ran across the “freindly” atheist website. On this thread, i haven’t seen any? Some are obviously being humorous but some are quite nasty. It is interesting to me that some here are not freindly; they are downright hateful. So much for tolerance…

Russ

I celebrate Easter by going out the day after and buying cheap candy.

Charles

Got up, hunted for hard boiled eggs.

Went to Church and enjoyed it. They mentioned that everyone was an important of the community, the Atheists, the Muslims, the Christians, the Jews, etc. How we made the church a stronger and better place by offering different viewpoints of the world. Gospel of Mark got read and discussed by the pastor (I think that is what we call ’em). Went downstairs and ate some free cake (egg shaped!) Better than I was expecting.

Went home, chowed on good food with old family friends in the late after noon.

(We aren’t being hateful. We’re just being normal, everyday, non-religious people living our lives in a religion-saturated society.)

Went to the bakery this morning for cinnamon rolls: closed, with not even a sign in the window explaining why (guess we all know how holy this particular Sunday, the one after the first full moon after the vernal equinox, is). Went with my nuclear family to our UU church for a nice service celebrating the renewal of spring & questioning the standard Christian story of Easter. The kids put on a spring play, & had chocolate and an egg hunt (the candy-filled kind) there, had fun.

I was very pleased with our county library system – I went to their website today, & under “hours” there was an announcement that every branch was open its usual Sunday hours today. Bless their hearts (so to speak).

«bønez_brigade»

@Mike, I’ve read all 96 comments that came before yours, and I found only one that mentioned hatred of Xianity (albeit not in an “intolerant” context). Quite a few of them rightfully equate Jesus with a zombie (or Xianity with a death cult), which is probably difficult for the devout to understand. If that’s to what you’re referring, then this illustrated summary might shed some light on why it’s seen that way:http://www.demotivatorblog.com/2008/03/05/christianity-demotivator/

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@Eliza, It’s the first ecclesiastical full moon after the vernal equinox, BTW. We’re dealing with Xian astronomy here.

Ashley

When my boyfriend and I are living together we plan on finding a good bread recipe, calling it Jesus, bringing secular friends together on Easter, and then coming out of the kitchen once the bread is done, saying “Jesus has risen!” We’re looking forward to it

Eliza

@bb, Knock me over with a feather – I had no idea they were using funny math to figure out the holiest day of the year. (But on reflection – why should that come as a surprise?)

http://www.undergroundunbeliever.blogspot.com Anna Lemma

I cooked a rabbit so we happily ate the Easter Bunny. He was good too. 😉

http://frodology.blogspot.com/ FrodoSaves

A BBQ and lots of beer.

kirk

I made myself a nice breakfast and a killer steak for dinner. On days when stuff is closed, I make up for it with great feasts… Not like I was going to get anything accomplished anyhow.

«bønez_brigade»

@Eliza, Well, props to the Xians to be able to back up something with math.

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@Anna Lemma, Your avatar goes rather well with your name.

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[BTW, methinks the “96” part of my comment above may look odd if new pre-Mike comments are approved.]

Chipset

@Mike-April 12th, 2009 at 8:39 pm: I for one do not tolerate religiosity in anyone but the very old Mike. It is beyond childish for grownups to still adhere to that silly magical thinking, and I cannot respect such mushy brained thinking or lack thereof. The very old should know better but they are afraid to die so I just don’t have the heart to tell them they are just going to die and stay dead so get over it.

The Religious and their imbecilic child minded beliefs in magic are an embarrassment to modern humanity. If they come out of their dark caves of ignorant religious superstition into the light of truth then I will be friendly to them, otherwise I will belittle, and berate them at every opportunity as a community service, and my duty to mankind. It’s great Easter fun as well!

Tom

I used to prepare elaborate easter baskets for my friends and family, full of chocolate bunnies and candy-filled plastic eggs. (I have no religious problem with this: I believe in the existence of rabbits, eggs, candy, and plastic.) I would then deliver them, along with my pet (real, live) rabbit. (Who I did not buy on a whim for the holiday – rabbits are sensitive, thinking beings who do not deserve to be treated as decoration.)

However, my last rabbit died some years ago, and the baskets have become expensive, so I’ve dropped the practice.

These days I sleep in, and I miss my rabbits.

wintremute

Dinner with the grandparents. It being Easter just reminded me that I should go see them more often. We had a nice dinner and some candy. Not a single mention of religion, pro or con, the entire evening. The way it should be.

http://atheistlibrarian.blogspot.com Adam

I’m eating a chocolate bunny right now. I was going to have an easter egg hunt for my apartment complex (I already have the plastic eggs and candy) but then I had to work 11 and a half hours. Well, 3 hours of overtime isn’t bad. I just wish it hadn’t been until 3am.

Amanda

Bought a couple CDs and a new zombie book. Nice, relaxing day at home, then spent the day working on motorcycles and cursing the fact that most stores were closed. Couldn’t get a new battery for one of them. Also the Gym was closed. 😛

Amanda

Bought a couple CDs and a new zombie book. Nice, relaxing day at home, then spent the day working on motorcycles and cursing the fact that most stores were closed. Couldn’t get a new battery for one of them. Also the Gym was closed. 😛 We named the bike Jesus, because it returned to life on Sunday.

Kayla

It was my boyfriend’s 23rd birthday on Easter, so we mostly..did birthday things, like opening presents, nookie, going to the movies, etc.

Although we did buy some pastel colored junior mints. That counts as easter-y, doesn’t it?

When we have kids, though, we’ll likely do the typical easter stuff – eggs, bunnies, etc. Because I find that stuff cute.

http://blueollie.wordpress.com ollie

I finished a 100 mile trail race (on foot) over Easter weekend. I wasn’t the only moron out there.

And yes, I heard cries about “crucifixion” and “resurrection” from the other ultra runners and walkers.

http://www.myspace.com/misterjoeclassic TimothyJosephWood

There were only like six of us left in our entire dorm, and it was pretty obvious that we were the unbelievers. So we climbed a mountain and talked about life and happiness on the edge of a cliff.

Much more satisfying than a mass I have to say.

teammarty

Drive home from the American Atheist convention. But that has nothing really to do with easter. It’s just a good time to snag a discount at an otherwise empty hotel.

eschmidt

The last few years we have made it a point to celebrate science and nature over Easter weekend. Our family went hiking at Hocking Hills State Park in Ohio this year. Last year we visited the Cleveland Natural History Museum, the year before that we went to COSI in Columbus. Easter had always been my “least favorite” holiday. It was always a drag having “Easter dinner” with our religious family members. Now I look forward to Easter weekend!

http://omgitslost.com matty

Lost is still my favorite show.

Annette

We are celebrating spring. I made the kids Isthar baskets filled with goodies. The hubby is putting some burgers on the pit. I filled some plastic eggs with coupons for the kids for “mom to do the chicken dance” or “one day of no chores”. Just having good clean, non-zombie celebrating type of fun.